Adoption Website Under Fire
First they got married in Canada, then they completed the requirements of their home state to become adoptive parents.Excited about starting the process, Rosario Gennaro, 40, and Alexander Gardner, 38, contacted a leading adoption website owned by Adoption Media, LLC to post a parent profile for potential birthmothers to view.Their dreams were instantly shattered when they found out that they did not meet the site’s requirements for posting a profile, in order to be eligible to post a profile you must be a
qualified husband and wife couple.
Outraged at being turned away from letting others know that they are a potential home for a child, while children languish without homes and parents to love them, the couple has asked the state’s top attorney to force Adoption Media to allow gay couples the same rights as straight couples and post parent profiles on the site, or bar the site from doing business with anyone in the state of New York, meaning that all potential adoptive couples in that state would have to look elsewhere to post their profiles.
It may sound like an easy decision to some, however, a similar case involving a lesbian couple from California finally ended in 2007 with Adoption Media choosing to drop business with the entire state of California rather than allowing gay and lesbian couples the opportunity to post parent profiles on their site, parentprofiles dot com.
Photo Credit: DeusxFlorida: Flickr.com
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They realize how huge
They realize how huge California is, right?
a dot com owners - Dale and Nathan Gwilliam
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/related/53298
Dale and Nathan Gwilliam are the owners and Mormons. But they claimed (via their lawyer) that they refuse to accept any profiles from single people. And the California gay couple weren't married.
"It wasn't a belief that it would be better not to have gay couples on their site. It was a belief that it would be best to promote adoption by married couples," (lawyer's quote)
This new lawsuit is slightly different. The gay couple is married. And the parentprofiles dot com has a clear restriction. They only accept posts from "one male husband and one female wife".
I will be curious to see what happens with this...
AngelaW
The ones that you love the most are usually the ones that hurt you the most. - Unknown
Just a thought
Does this mean they also bar single people from posting their profiles? I wonder if a single person would have more luck fighting this in court.
Comment Missing?
If you posted a comment to this blog and it is missing... I had to update this blog earlier this morning and this updating accidently may have dropped a comment or two.
Sorry, you will have to repost your comment.
AngelaW
The ones that you love the most are usually the ones that hurt you the most. - Unknown
Consistency
I am amazed at Adoption Media's consistency. They loose in CA and drop the state, now they do it again. There is no substitute for management, good or bad.
John
PS Consistency is not always and attribute.
definition of marriage
It looks to me like they have clearly defined what they consider a married couple in their terms of service - a husband and wife. Since the gay couple can't claim to be a husband and wife, they don't fit the terms of service. As a single person, clearly I don't fit within their terms of service, so I would find an alternative. I can understand why this couple is upset that this organization doesn't want to do business with them, but the business has clearly spelled out their terms. How many adoptions in California could have been completed if this company hadn't withdrawn from there, rather than give in to these tactics trying to force them to not comply with their own standards? It's funny how diversity and tolerance are all the talk, until you come up against someone whose beliefs don't gel with what you personally want. Then they become bad guys who must be forced to comply with your wishes.
Broke New York state laws
While I don't appreciate the adoption agency here or there who refuses to take me as a client because I am single or not Christian enough, I accept it. But I don't think that is what the article is talking about.
The lawsuit is claiming that New York state laws are being broken by the company. I am curious to know what state law is being broken. The lawyers who filed the lawsuit put out a press release which the AP used to write up the story. The press release is here: http://www.lambdalegal.org/news/pr/lambda-legal-files-complaint.html
I have seen one blow back posting. It talks about "protect[ing] the freedom to act according to moral and religious convictions." http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007754.cfm
One commenter here (http://southernchaos.blogspot.com/2008/07/couple-files-complaint-with-online.html) points out that parentprofiles also requires that a marriage be recognized by all 50 states. I wonder if this will cover them? Canadian gay marriage isn't recognized by all 50 states. I think this is also an issue for common-law marriages. But I am not a lawyer, so I could be wrong.